Refrigerating apparatus



June 13, 1939. H. E. COSSIN REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 2, 1937ATTORNEY.

Patented June 13, 1939 PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Hursle E.Cossin, Detroit, Mich., assignor to Nash- Kelvinator Corporation,Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Maryland 1 Application October 2, 1937,Serial No. 166,954

1 Claim.

My invention pertains to a refrigerator shelving arrangement and moreparticularly to a slidable drawer assembly and shelf supporting rack forhousehold refrigerators.

It is an object of my invention to provide in a refrigerator anarrangement of open work vertically spaced shelves and slidable drawersfor storing food articles exposed to the freely circulating cold air ina refrigerator cabinet whereby the desired degree of refrigeration isconveniently obtained for different food articles.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a simple rigid open workrack for supporting a plurality of slidable open work drawers verticallybetween the evaporator and a side wall of a refrigerator cabinet.

A further object of my invention is to provide a refrigerator slidingdrawer assembly having spaced guide rails slidably disposed betweenrespective pairs of guide rods for slida'bly supporting and guidingdrawers in a rack.

The novel features that I consider characteristic of my invention areset forth with particularity in the appended claim. The inventionitself, however, both as to its organization and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbest be understood from the following description of a specificembodiment, when read in connection with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator cabinet withthe door opened to show my improved shelving arrangement therein;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the open work rack providedfor supporting a plurality of slidable drawers and also the largehorizontal shelves in the cabinet.

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of a refrigerator partly sectioned onlines 33 of Fig. 1 to show the sliding drawer assembly;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on line 4-4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view showing one of the slidingdrawers adapted to slide into the rigid open work rack.

Referring more specifically to Fig. 1 of the drawing, the apparatuscomprises a heat insulating cabinet I for enclosing a food storage space3 having an open doorway at one side which is closed by a heatinsulating door 5 hinged along one of the vertical edges thereof in theusual manner. A cooling evaporator I is suspended from the middle of theupper wall of the food storage compartment in spaced relation from theside walls for cooling the air as it circulates therein. The evaporatorI is supplied with liquid refrigerant from any suitable refrigerantcondensing unit which may be mounted in a machine compartment providedin the lower portion of the refrigerator cabinet in the usual manner. I

In accordance with my invention, I provide a rigid open work rack 9 ofsimple open work construction. As shown in Fig. 2, the rack 9 comprisesfour vertically disposed corner rods II which are secured at the outercorners of rectangular rod-like frames I3 in any suitable manner, as bywelding for example. The two uppermost frames I3 are suitably spaced toprovide a shelf, the bottom of which is defined by a pair of spaced rodsI5 extending longitudinally between the short ends of the frame I9 towhich it is secured and having upwardly turned end portions I'I securedto the ends of the uppermost one of the rectangular frame members I3.

The remainder of the rectangular frame members I3 are suitably spacedvertically between the corner rods I I for supporting slidable drawersI8. For this purpose, each of the drawer receiving frames I3 is providedwith a pair of spaced guide rails I9, the ends of which are secured tothe short end portions of the rectangular frames IS in any suitablemanner, as by welding. Side rods 2| are connected along the sides of therack between the corner rods II at suitable spaced portions between therectangular frame I3 to guide the movements of the slidable drawers I8thereon. The rods 2| also serve to improve the rigidity of thecompletely assembled rack.

A pair of side bars 23 are secured vertically on one side of thevertical rack 9 as by spot welding to the adjacent sides of I therectangular frames I3. The vertical bars 23 are provided with up-turnedhooks 25 which project externally therefrom for receiving and supportingthe edges of the large horizontal shelves in the refrigerator cabinet.The rigid open work construction rack 9 thus provides a plurality ofvertically spaced drawer supporting guides and an open work shelf at thetop thereof for supporting small articles such as oranges, apples,

eggs and the like.

As shown in Fig. 1, the rigid drawer assembly rack 9 is of a suitablesize for mounting Vertically in the food storage compartment adjacentone side wall thereof and the upper portion of the rack is disposedbetween the evaporator cooling element I and the side wall whereby aWide variety of refrigerating temperatures is conveniently provided forstoring different food articles therein, while permitting the coldrefrigerated air to circulate freely therethrough. The rack.

9 is conveniently slipped into place in the storage compartment of therefrigerator and the horizontally disposed shelves 2'! are thereafterhooked upon the supporting hooks which project from one side of therack. The wall of the food storage compartment, adjacent the verticaldrawer supporting rack 9, may be provided with resilient hooks 28 forresiliently clasping the adjacent side rods 2| of the rack whereby therack is secured in the refrigerator cabinet, as shown in Fig. 4.

The drawers l8, which are slidably disposed within the vertical rack,comprise each a front plate 3| provided with a handle portion 33 struckout therefrom. From the front plate 3|, a rodlike rectangular member 35projects rearwardly, and depending therefrom are vertically disposedrectangular members 31 which are joined by elongated rod-like members 39which are spaced under and parallel to the sides of the rectangularmember 35. The parallel spaced members 39 may be secured to therectangular members 31 and the front plate 35 in any suitable manner, asby welding for example. For slidably supporting and guiding the drawerin its movements upon the spaced guide rails l9 of the rack 9, eachdrawer, is provided with two pairs of spaced guide rods ll securedlongitudinally under members 31, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4. Eachpair of spaced guide rods 4| fits over and slides along one of the guiderails l9 supported on the rack. In this manner each drawer is rigidlysupported and accurately guided for free movement in and out of thevertical supporting rack 9.

It will be seen that I have provided an improved rack assembly ofslidable drawers spaced vertically for storing food articles whereby thevarious desired degrees of refrigeration are conveniently available fordifferent food articles. whilst providing convenient storage space forsmall articles and supporting means for the large shelves in thecabinet.

Aside from the specific embodiment of the invention herein shown anddescribed, it will be understood that numerous details of theconstruction may be altered or omitted without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention as disclosed and claimed, and that I do notdesire to limit the invention to the exact construction herein setforth.

I claim:

In a rack for refrigerators the combination of a wire frame includingfour vertically extending wire corner members, open work shelf membersvertically spaced between and secured to said wire corner members, twohorizontally positioned wire members cooperating with each of said wirecorner members and being vertically spaced in parallel relation adjacentthe upper ends of said corner members and secured thereto, a pluralityof Ushaped wire members having longitudinally extending portionsarranged on a horizontal plane and extending from one end of the rack tothe other and vertically extending portions between and cooperating withsaid two horizontally positioned wire members to provide a basketlikeshelf for storing small food articles and a pair of side bars securedvertically to certain of said shelves to provide a rigid open workconstruction and having provisions for receiving and supportingadditional shelf structures.

HURSLE E. COSSIN.

